On William Shakespeare’s birthday (April 23rd*), I thought about the impact of Shakespeare in my life. Although I majored in English (British Literature emphasis) and took an excellent college class on his works, my most memorable experiences with “the Bard” were in junior high and high school – and it had nothing to do with Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes.

I was in the GATE program (Gifted and Talented Education) where select public school students identified as gifted are given educational opportunities they wouldn’t have otherwise.  The California Department of Education describes that